Back from the game..... Donny Rovers

[Royalwaster]

OK the game was shit, but some of the drivel on here is just beyond endurance.

[FiNeRaIn]

Not the best game.bit dull.shit crowd. But the gloom on here is a bit much. We played well,nice football all over the pitch. Howard and odea look to have extra quality.rasiak looked a handful.cummings ok.berti good,again.sigi good again,bryn and kara solid.back four comfortable, kebe and ref dogshit.but surely enough to see things coming together. I fancy the win on wednesday.

What odd use of punctuation.

Crowd is the sign of the times, no one care's anymore and it'll be even less next season. Loads of people were duped into renewing this season who won't be renewing next year. Expect crowds of around 13k like the old days.

[Terminal Boardom]

Why play 451 at home? Where was the flexibility? BR said that Donny changed their shape 3 times during the game. How did we counter their shape? We only looked threatening when the big Pole came on. We have to be more positive and look to be more dominant. Starting a home game with 2 defensive midfielders is not positive and will not bring the crowds back and will not get the crowd behind the team from the off. Yes, it was quiet. But the noise levels did increase as soon as some urgency was introduced into our play. Unfortunately neither the players nor crowd could maintain either.

[Terminal Boardom]

OK the game was shit, but some of the drivel on here is just beyond endurance.

Don't add to it then!

[loyalroyal4life]

It is so frustrating watching us play i mean i thought we were pretty decent for most part of the game!! A goal to break the deadlock and anticipation was all that we needed but yet again it evades us!!

howard and o'dea looked decent cummings was average, did similar things to rosey but we will give him a chance sure he can come good.

ryan bertrand is pure class he will be an excellent player if he continues to play the way he does

still think we need a striker on loan, someone who is just pure goalscorer at this level. I wouldnt mind marcus bent on loan

[Terminal Boardom]

I suppose that considering that we played the game with only 10 players, a 0-0 is not a bad result.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

I must be the only one not too bothered by the sounds of it.

Having only been to the home games I actually thought today was a bit of an improvement.
Judging purely on shots-on-target we are going in the right direction anyway.

Too many new starters again today for me to actually expect too much

My only concern today (aside from Kebe playing awful & cummings being scared of the opposition half) was that we even bothered to buy Howard. Gylfi was looking better every game and could easily have been the exciting centre-point of my season. To get on Howard (who ok had a good game, but who sheff utd fans say has been garbage recently) at the expense of gylfi seems insane

[loyalroyal4life]

I must be the only one not too bothered by the sounds of it.

Having only been to the home games I actually thought today was a bit of an improvement.
Judging purely on shots-on-target we are going in the right direction anyway.

Too many new starters again today for me to actually expect too much

My only concern today (aside from Kebe playing awful & cummings being scared of the opposition half) was that we even bothered to buy Howard. Gylfi was looking better every game and could easily have been the exciting centre-point of my season. To get on Howard (who ok had a good game, but who sheff utd fans say has been garbage recently) at the expense of gylfi seems insane

sorry but did gylfi and howard not both start and it was marek who replaced gylfi?

[John Madejski's Wallet]

sorry but did gylfi and howard not both start and it was marek who replaced gylfi?

I meant replace him in the centre of the pitch (i.e. Howard has come in to play in the position that seems to suit Gylfi best)

[Pseud O'Nym]

We were disjointed and the game was a bit scrappy at times but I think we'll steadily improve rather like England have done under Capello.

The same Capello who's given up on funny furrin formations and gone to 4-4-2?

[Southbank Old Boy]

Still, at least we got rid of that waster Coppell, who wants win over Liverpool, Spurs, Man City etc when you can have 0-0's with Donny.

I havent read the rest of the thread yet but

Maybe if Coppell hadnt have thrown away our Premiership status by being scared of bringing in a few quality players we might still be up there and he might still have a job

[AthleticoSpizz]

Still, at least we got rid of that waster Coppell, who wants win over Liverpool, Spurs, Man City etc when you can have 0-0's with Donny.

I havent read the rest of the thread yet but

Maybe if Coppell hadnt have thrown away our Premiership status by being scared of bringing in a few quality players we might still be up there and he might still have a job

catch up olden'

[Pablo]

sorry but did gylfi and howard not both start and it was marek who replaced gylfi?

I meant replace him in the centre of the pitch (i.e. Howard has come in to play in the position that seems to suit Gylfi best)

Totally agree with you John. Howard has been bought to play in Gylfi´s best postition and Gylfi will probably think about his future now.

[Shaka's Giant Hands]

What got me was Kebe's 'performance', absolutly shocking. Out of position, not interested and appeared to get in the way more than anything. It really does concern me that he has now managed to be a regular for the last two seasons without ever performing, I'm not saying I no the answer but its clearly not Jimmy...maybe Henry? I really cant see why he's not getting a decent run in the team.

Oh, as for some of BR's comments after the game, disappointing to say the least! Bangs on about how he loves the club blah blah but admits he didnt no that the home form has been so bad....even admitted that the players didnt no!

[AthleticoSpizz]

why should they know?

they weren't here when it started

[FiNeRaIn]

I don't associate last seasons home record with this team, I am annoyed at the management of the club for that, none of the current personnel.

[Shaka's Giant Hands]

why should they know?

they weren't here when it started

Weren't they? Pretty sure Fedz was, pretty sure Pearce was, pretty sure Kebe was, pretty sure Bryn was, pretty sure Gylfi, Jem, Noel, Marek all were...as well as Tabb and Cisse. But maybe I'm mistaken, I'll have to check my programmes

[M-U-R-T-Y]

Not read the whole thread, but to those slating Cummings - he made a crucial interception right at the end today, no thanks to Cisse's ineptitude. In fact, Cisse was a liability today.

Defence on the whole was pretty good actually, O'Dea was pretty quiet but looked solid, Pearce made some good headers.

[clauski]

I think the quality of our players is actually OK (Kebe excepted, of course). But with Rodgers' tactics we have no chance of succeeding - world class they may be, suited to this league they ain't. If we had played the same players in Coppell's style we would have had an exiciting game with lots of chances and a Reading win today, I am convinced. With no support up front we won't score enough goals - simple as. Last year the forwards came wide too often leaving us nobody up front and we struggled. This year we've taken it one step further by eliminating our second striker.

And this style is not exciting to watch - fine for many of us but to the casusal fan? Or kids at their first footy game? I saw many a bored face. Watch those crowds dwindle...

[rhroyal]

I'm sick of reading messages putting down Rodgers and the team after only 6 games this season. Yes, we should have won yesterday. However it's really not the end of the world, it sounds as if we were the better team and it was the same old problem of creativity and making that cost us.

That's exactly the sort of thing that will improve as a team grows together and begins to gel. We've got a young squad who are still learning and a new team. People talk about relegation - we've already had some tough fixtures and we're not really showing that form, especially when you'd expect this team to do better as the season continues. Rome wasn't built in a day. For that matter neither was Coppell's team that went on to win 106 points and finish 8th in the Premiership.

Look at the positives. Sigurdsson, Karacan and Pearce are the best things to come out of our academy since I've been a fan (about 10 years or so). The sig in particular appears to have a very bright future. We have some more experienced players such as Hunt, Tabb, Ivar, Rasiak, McAnuff and Howard.

However they're not on their last legs. Apart from possibly Rasiak and Ivar, I feel like there is potential in all of them to still play the best football of their career under the right guidance, rather like Little, Kitson, Ivar, Marcus, Murty and indeed half of Coppell's squad did under him. They were hardly spring chickens but they still had an extra level. You'd expect Rodgers to do similarly well with this crop, because whatever his shortcomings he is renowned as an excellent coach and worked at Chelsea as players such as Lampard really began to step up their game. We have a nucleus of a team that will grow together. When weaknesses are identified, it will be possible to add 1 or 2 players without upsetting the balance of the team.

I'm not expecting promotion this season, probably not next season either. However, I predict that if in 2 years time this team are still together we will be a serious force. Firstly, they will not so much be individuals as a team, which is not the case now. Should the likes of HRK, Pearce, Davies or any of our youngsters prove to promise but never actually bear fruit we can replace them without doing a complete overhaul and add strength to this side.

I saw a post from Ideal on the opening page already talking about getting Rodgers out. How many football clubs do you have to watch to see that that's not the answer? Newcastle? SAF at Man Utd would have been sacked before he won anything in today's footballing world. What a tragedy for the game that would have been.